Sponsor Spotlight: Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FM
By Javacia Harris Bowser
When Sarah Delia started college as an English and art history major she had no thoughts of one day becoming a radio journalist. But given her love for storytelling and music, Delia now says it makes perfect sense that today she’s an announcer and producer for public radio.
“I knew I liked to write, I knew I liked storytelling, and I’d always loved music and listening to the radio, so it all makes sense that it worked out this way,” Delia says. “But I didn’t go into college saying I’m going to be on the radio when I graduate.”
But residents of Birmingham, Ala., can catch Delia from 3-7 p.m. on Public Radio WBHM 90.3. Delia has served as host for “All Things Considered” and producer of local stories for the station since June.
Originally from Virginia, 26-year-old Delia became hooked on radio during her college years at James Madison University. Delia says she was a bit lonely her freshman year of college because she wasn’t looking to party like many of her peers.
“I didn’t know where to find my people,” she says. Delia father suggested she check out the crew at the college radio station.
Delia expected to find a group of snobby, pretentious people. Instead she found a group of people who became her very best friends, friends with whom she still remains close today.
“I always tell people college radio was my sorority,” Delia says.
At her college radio station Delia learned more about what happened behind the scenes and even had the chance to host a feminist radio talk show.
An internship in public radio before her senior year of college left Delia certain that this was the career path for her. Delia later spent a year in New York freelancing and working as an intern at WYNC’s Studio 360. In 2010 Delia graduated from the Salt Institute for Radio Documentary Studies under the guidance of its then radio instructor Rob Rosenthal.
After working for two years in Fort Wayne, Ind., at Northeast Indiana Public Radio, where she hosted several programs, reported, and produced various stories and shows, Delia was ready to move on. She decided that move should be to Birmingham, Ala.
“I think Birmingham has a lot going for it and I think there are a lot of stories to be told here,” Delia says. “There’s so much history here and there’s so much effort to make things better here, to make a better place, and that really appealed to me.”
Delia’s advice to other young women hoping to have successful careers in radio is to be willing to leave your hometown and go where the job leads you.
“Some of the best advice I’ve gotten is, ‘You have to go away before you can come back,’” Delia says. “You can’t be married to a location. If you really want the experience you’ll go get it.”
In college, Delia’s English studies focused on creative writing. That love for storytelling obviously comes in handy as a radio journalist. And Delia says that when she looks back at the fiction and creative non-fiction she wrote in college, much of it was in the form of short vignettes that would be very radio friendly. The conversational tone of her writing is also perfect for radio.
But Delia admits that the hardest thing for her in her radio career is editing her stories.
“I write very conversationally, which I think translates well to radio, but I’m also the wordiest person,” Delia says with a laugh.
But she doesn’t let word count limits hinder her writing process.
“Just let it out,” Delia says. Her advice is to write your story and then edit to avoid finding yourself staring at a blank screen for hours for fear your sentences will be too long.
If you have time, she says, get a good night’s rest and then edit the piece again.
When asked what advice she’d give to any female journalist, Delia’s answer was simple: “Be assertive.”
She also believes it’s important to be yourself.
“It’s important for you to not be afraid to be yourself and to be a woman,” Delia says. “For a while I was so focused on wanting to be taken seriously as a journalist that I tried to put my gender aside. But our gender is who we are. I think we should embrace it and embrace how you will come to a story differently than someone else will and that’s not better or worse, it’s just different.”
We definitely miss Sarah up here in Fort Wayne!
She spoke very highly of her time in Fort Wayne!